Bees for Development
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The long relationship between humans and bees started with honey hunting. Over time people found it was possible to improve on their chances of collecting honey by attracting swarms of bees into specially made containers. This first step towards managing bees clearly established personal ownership of the colony. Early hives were simple in design and constructed of local materials, grasses woven into baskets, hollow logs, bark or clay containers. These styles of bee hives are still used widely and productively today.
The bees do not mind where they live as long as it is safe and dry. The bee hive is entirely for the convenience of the beekeeper. This means that beekeepers make choices about bee hives depending on their own circumstances. There are essentially three choices of bee hive for beekeepers in developing countries.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each system.
90% of the honey produced in Africa is produced using fixed comb hives. These successful and simple hives are often handed down through generations along with the special knowledge needed to manage them successfully. This is a proven technology that has stood the test of time and should not be abandoned unless the alternatives are clearly understood. It is perfectly possible to produce high quality, export standard honey from these hives and many people do. Because the whole honeycomb is cut out when the honey is harvested, spreading disease by returning extracted comb to a different hive is not an issue and the wax yield is an important additional crop for the beekeeper.
The use of moveable comb and frame hives opens up new opportunities for beekeeping management as beekeepers can improve colonisation rates by dividing hives. Top-bar hives simplify harvesting compared to a fixed comb hive - because the combs are more accessible and more easily removed - and also compared to a frame hive, because there is no need for the complicated extracting equipment used in frame hive beekeeping.
Key points:
One very robust argument for choosing simple hive styles is that beekeepers should be able to make their own from local materials that are easily and cheaply available. The simpler a hive is to make, the more people will be able to take part in beekeeping even if they have very little money. They can invest a small amount and then as skill and income grows, further investment can be made to acquire more and better hives.
Not all honey bees can be kept in beehives. The largest honey bees, Apis dorsata and Apis laboriosa and the tiny Apis florea build only a single comb and do not lend themselves to hive beekeeping. However, in certain parts of South East Asia people have developed an intermediate bee management style for Apis dorsata, known as rafter beekeeping where bees are encouraged to build their combs on a specially prepared wooden branch.
List of Articles available on this topic (85):
Title | Author |
A Case of Hives | Heath, L |
A Review of Beekeeping in Arab Countries | Hussein M H |
A study of the effects of hive colours and hive temperatures | Marden, P.L. |
Advantages of bee houses | MacRobert, G. F. |
Bait Hives for Honey Bees | Morse, R. & Seeley, T.D. |
Bee Boles and Bee Houses | Foster, A.M. |
Bee hives for honey production | Schmolke, M |
Bee hives of the ancient world | Crane, E. and Graham, A.J. |
Beehives for honey production | Smolke, M |
Beehives from ancient greece | Graham, A.J. |
Beekeeping Development in the Central African Republic | Debold K J |
Beekeeping in Upper Volta (I) | Swanson R A |
Beekeeping in Upper Volta (II) | Swanson R A |
Beekeeping Technology Adoption and its Effect on Resource Productivity in Southern Kenya Rangelands | Muriuki, J. M. |
Best hive type for Africa | Bees for Development |
Better beekeeping in top-bar hives | Gregory, P. |
Better beekeeping in top-bar hives | Gregory, P. |
Better beekeeping in top-bar hives - Entrances and roofs | Gregory, P. |
Better beekeeping in top-bar hives: Choose a site, making hive stands and attracting bees... | Gregory, P. |
Better beekeeping in top-bar hives: Entrances and roofs | Gregory, P. |
Better beekeeping in top-bar hives: Hives and hive making | Gregory, P. |
Better beekeeping in top-bar hives: Things that can go wrong... | Gregory, P. |
Better beekeeping in top-bar hives; hives and hive making | Gregory, P. |
Bob Malichi answers | Bees for Development |
Burkina Faso | Nombre, I.; Sawadogo, M.; Boussim, J. & Guinko, S. |
Cement hives - an environmentally-friendly alternative to wooden hive boxes | Ravishankar, J. |
Cementing ideas | Adepoju, Bola |
Choosing materials to make hives | Gregory, P |
Clay pot hives - Income for potters? | Otengo, P.U. |
Coffins and concrete blocks – a response from BfD | Bradbear,N |
Collection of Historical and Contemporary Beekeeping Material | Vernon, F.G. |
Comb Management | Welsh Assembly Government |
Concrete hives in The Gambia | Lassen, Kristin; Jammeh, Ebrima |
Concrete Hives in the Gambia | Lassen, K. & Jammeh, E. |
Designing a Standard Hive for the Chinese Honeybee | Yang G H et al |
Facts about \"A frame for the Kenya top-bar hive\" | Stanley K Mbobua |
Haiti Beekeeping Mission | Geckler, S. |
Haiti Beekeeping Project | Sterk, B. |
Haynes Bee Manual | Waring, C. & Waring, A. |
Hive Management: A Seasonal Guide for Beekeepers | Bonney, R.E. |
Honey Bee: Coloured Atlas of Primative & Modern Hives, Stingless Honey Bee, Beekeeping Calender of Iran | Saadatmand, S.J. |
In defence of cement | Ravishankar, Jyoti |
In response to modern hives or modern ideas | Crowder, L. |
Inappropriate use of frame hives in Tanzania: a discouraging factor for beekeepers | Svensson, B. |
Instructions on bee-keeping | Ghosh, C.C. |
Letter - 22mm Top Bar Cameroon | Romet, A. |
Letter on Top Bar hive articles | Clauss, B. |
Lower costs for learners | Akukumah, N. |
Make your own skep: and revive a lost art | Nobbs, R.E. |
Making local beekeeping sustainable in Sierra Leone | Aidoo, K. |
Modern hives or modern ideas? | Lowore, J. and Bradbear, N. |
Mono Block Clay Hive for Apis cerana | Barnes, G. |
Mono Block Clay Hive for Apis cerana | Barnes, G. |
New Beekeeping Opportunities for Small Holder Farmers | |
New Low-Cost Soil and Cement Products (incl Hives) | A.A.U. |
NOVOS RECURSOS TÉCNICOS, NOVOS CAMINHOS PARA CRIAÇÃO DE ABELHAS SEM FERRÃO | Mitsiotis, N.M |
Practical Beekeeping - Bark hives | Musachi, J.K. |
Practical Beekeeping - Top-bar hives in Eastern Senegal | Romet, A. |
Practical Beekeeping: Transferring Colonies of Apis cerana to Frame Hives | Fairdo, A.C., and Cervanica, C.R. |
Publications relating to African Honey Bees and Beekeeping reported in Apicultural Abstracts 1990 (editions 1 - 4) and 1991 (editions 1 - 3) | |
Restoration of Apis cerana japonica on the Goto Islands | Hishahi, F. |
Tales from the Hive | NOVA |
The alpine hive | Jankovic, S.Z. |
The alpine hive | Jankovic, S.Z. |
The barefoot beekeeper | Chandler, P. |
The basis for success in beekeeping projects | Paterson, P. |
The BBKA Guide to Beekeeping | Davis, I. & Cullum-Kenyon, R. |
The Birth of Itumbauzo Beekeepers Association | Eaton, P. |
The Chinese Bee (Apis cerana) Ten-frame Hive | China, Chinese Standards |
The construction, dimensions and siting of log hives near Nairobi, Kenya | Kigatiira, K.I., Morse, R.A. |
The Gorongosa hive (top-bar) | Hardison, M. |
The Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal, an island of Apis cerana beekeeping | Ahmad, F.; Joshi, S.R.; Gurung, M.B & partap, U. |
The JZ1 Frame-wire Embedder of Honeycomb Foundation with Multipurpose Electrical Time | Miao X |
The saltpond hive - an appropriate hive design for West Africa | Aidoo, K.S. |
The shape, construction and identification of traditional hives | Crane, E. |
The Travelling Beekeeper. Equipment for Beekeeping | Connor Larry |
The Vautier hive | Sakho, K |
Top Bar Beekeeping: Organic Practices for Honeybee Health | Crowder, L. & Harrell, H |
Top bar hives | Sanford, M.T. |
Top-bar beekeeping in America | Crowder, L. |
Training in Malta | Ball, R. |
Wall Hives and Wall Beekeeping | Crane E |
Waterproof paper pulp beehive for gardeners | Oh,S. |
Why Warré | Heaf, D. |
Zambian Beekeeping Handbook | Clauss, B. & Clauss, R. |